Paes-Hingis advance, Bopanna out of Australia Open mixed doubles

Melbourne, Jan 25 : Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won their mixed doubles opener while Rohan Bopanna and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova were knocked out of the competition at the Australian Open tennis tournament here today.

Seventh seeds Paes and Hingis took 65 minutes to beat Australia's Masa Jovanovic and Sam Thompson 6-2 7-6 (2) in the first round match played on Show Court 3.

The Indo-Swiss pair earned as many as 10 break points in the match but could only convert three of them. They next face Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues and Pablo Andujar tomorrow. Paes is already out of the men's doubles and so as Bopanna.

With today's defeat in the mixed doubles, Bopanna is out of the tournament. Bopanna fought hard with his Czech partner Strycova against third seeded duo of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor before going down 2-6 6-3 4-10 in the super tie-break.

India's Ojasvinee Singh too suffered a painful first round loss in the girls' doubles. She and her Thai partner Tamachan Momkoonthod lost to Katharina Hobgarski and Greet Minnen 3-6 7-6 (2) 9-11.

Besides Paes, another Indian in action tomorrow will be Sania Mirza, who plays her mixed doubles second round match with Brazilian Bruno Soares.

PTI